Thursday, January 21, 2016

Nothing Says Trustworthy Candidate Like Ambushing Children

Republican presidential candidate and former CEO Carly Fiorina seems to have found a new low regarding political campaigning. Fiorina was giving an anti-abortion speech in the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, which, somewhat ironically, happened to be on the same day as a preschool field trip. At this point, any sane person would do nothing. Instead, Fiorina's campaign put them onstage and used these preschoolers as makeshift props for her anti-abortion rally- without their parents' permission.

I don't even know how to explain how wrong this is. According to one source, Fiorina bumped into the children and parents at the fish pond, and then led them all to her rally, where her campaign unexpectedly brought them onstage and sat them in front of a picture of a fetus. It's somewhat inconceivable how many issues this brings up- first and foremost, the issue of taking children without their guardian's permission and putting them onstage in front of strangers is completely wrong. But then, to use them to campaign against abortion? That is not only disgusting, but highly manipulative.

What Fiorina is trying to do is plant the idea in the audience's- and possibly the children's- mind that to abort a fetus is as bad as killing one of these children. Aside from any stance on abortion, this comparison is completely asinine. Having four full years of experience and care creates a massive difference between these children and a fetus. This is, however, not such a new tactic among anti-abortion politicians. Frequently they will use advertisements showing babies, or even toddlers, to try and force the audience to sympathize. They know that fetuses do not look cute, so they make false comparisons to justify their actions.

This is not about abortion. This is about an abhorrent attempt to hijack an audience's emotions using unsuspecting children. There is no good way to paint this, Ms. Fiorina, and frankly no good excuse you can give to those parents. Maybe next time you want to tug at parents' heartstrings you can steal their baby right from its crib.

I also agree with the argument you make in your post. This is absolutely absurd and only makes me feels stronger about my opinion on abortion. I believe abortion should be an option for all pregnant women. Everyone should have control over their own body and should not have to go through with a pregnancy just because some strangers believe it is immoral.

Did she even consider what the parents of these children might think about abortion? I wasn't even aware of the event (probably because Fiorina is so irrelevant in the presidential race now), but I'm glad you informed us.